Movie appeal

Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel

(2009)

Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release

Chipmunk singing sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore are back for an encore in this hilarious "squeakquel" packed with more action and more nutty fun for the whole family! When a concert mishap lands Dave in the hospital, the Chipmunks take a break from superstardom and enroll in school to fit in with kids their age. But they soon face some stiff competition when they meet the Chipettes - a beautiful, talented trio of chipmunks discovered by Ian, the boys' evil ex-manager. Featurettes. Subtitles: English, French & Spanish; "'Munk Music Machine"; "Music Mania".

Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel Blu-ray Review

Beware the pitch shift.

I've come to a recent understanding: The Chipmunks have always been annoying to anyone over
the arbitrary age of, say, sixteen. I can remember, as a child of the 1980s, being absolutely in
love with a particular Alvin and The Chipmunks 7" record that would get frequent
rotation on my little toy player. My parents probably winced whenever I flipped the record and
placed the needle back in the groove, starting those high-pitched voices a'quivering all over again,
but I bet they did the same thing to their parents fifty years ago, when novelty songwriter Ross
Bagdasarian, Sr. first introduced his squeaky voiced creations to the American public. Now,
thanks to 2007's Alvin and the Chipmunks, along with this 2009 Squeakquel—I
know, a real killer of a pun—a whole new generation of youngsters is able to drive their parents
up a wall. It's almost a rite of passage. So, how does this most recent reboot compare to other
iterations of the 'munks? Not so well, unfortunately. I was weaned on the 1983-1990 TV series,
so I'm a bit biased, but you needn't take my word for it—critical reaction to both new films has
been overwhelmingly negative. But do kids love The Squeakquel? Overwhelmingly yes,
to the tune of a $442,000,000 box office intake. Incidentally, this makes The
Squeakquel the highest grossing film ever by a female director—Dr. Doolittle helmer
Betty Thomas. Unsurprisingly, this Blu-ray release is all set to be a massive seller. Parents, ready
your noise-canceling headphones.

The story picks up with Alvin, Simon, and Theodore—voiced unrecognizably by Justin Long,
Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney—performing a cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got
Me" at a massive benefit concert in France. When Alvin gets too cocky with his onstage
acrobatics, his hubris gets the best of, well, everyone, landing the 'munks handler, Dave (Jason
Lee) in traction at a Parisian hospital, where he essentially sits out the film. (He gets more than
ample opportunity, however, to scream his characteristic "A-l-v-i-n-n-n-n!" catchphrase, mostly
by phone.) The three hoodie-wearing rodents are sent stateside and looked after by Dave's cousin
Toby (Chuck's Zachary Levi), a bumbling, videogame-addicted slacker with no financial or
romantic prospects. For whatever reason, the chipmunks are enrolled in high school, where a
popular crew of knucklehead jocks woos Alvin away from his siblings, jeopardizing Principal
Rubin's (Wendie Malick) plans to enroll the pipsqueaks in a singing contest that could net the
school's music department a cool 25 grand. Meanwhile, the chipmunks' nemesis, down-but-not-
out music exec Ian Hawke (David Cross) discovers The Chipettes—The Chipmunks' female
counterparts—and enrolls them in school, with the hope that they might win the contest and
send him back to the top of the Jett Records food chain.

As expected, much lightweight drama ensues as the three brothers learn Important Life Lessons
about brotherhood and popularity and, of course, girls. The film's most inspired moment comes
when The Chipmunks first encounter The Chipettes in the school hallway. As the two sets of
siblings lay eyes on one another—with Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is" blaring in the
background—
every mammalian face goes slack and dopey, tiny wet noses quivering with the pangs of puppy
love. Sadly, this brilliant scene lasts all of ten seconds, and then it's back to fart gags, swirlies,
and enough slapstick to keep even the most ADHD kids interested for the whole 88-minute
runtime.
Adults may take brief refuge in a handful of off-the-wall references—Alvin channels DeNiro in
Taxi Driver, and later gives Hannibal Lecter's favre beans and Chianti speech—but
anyone over twenty will quickly tire under the barrage of chipmunk-itized pop tunes. I have to
say, it's mildly unnerving to watch pubescent female chipmunks sing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring
on It)" while suggestively gyrating their curvaceous hips. In general, the interplay
between the humans and the chipmunks in the film seems strange. Why are the 'munks in high
school in the first place? And what odd, cross-species urge drives cheerleaders to flirt with Alvin?
Perhaps I should drop this line of reasoning. Tiny tots will accept it all—they don't have any
disbelief to suspend—but for us grownups, no amount of imagination can save The
Squeakquel from seeming slightly ridiculous.

Ridiculous is also a good word to describe some of the adult actors' performances. After watching
David Cross plumb new career comedic lows, I found myself hoping that the longtime-in-the-
works movie script for Arrested Development would get pushed into production this year,
just so Cross might once again have some good material to work with. The same sentiment goes
for Jason Lee and Zachary Levi, who are no doubt enjoying their fat paychecks for The
Squeakquel, but, well, you know, are forever stigmatized by having starred in a film called
The Squeakquel. If you had told me ten years ago that the stinkpalm-wielding wiseass
from Mallrats would end up as Dave Seville, tending for a trio of cuddly chipmunks, I
probably would've shot you the most dismissive look imaginable. None of the actors are actually
bad here, just sort of glumly pitiable, like when Bill Murray signed on for Garfield: The
Movie. Still, for kids, these guys aren't actors, they're the butts of endless potty
jokes and physical gags, all of which seem quite adept at making the under-10 set crack up. And
in that respect, The Squeakquel is a success. I just wonder how this current crop of
young fans will feel about The Chipmunks when their kids are playing pitch-
shifted pop songs on repeat.

Think of it this way, parents: Squeakquel may give you dreams about hunting chipmunks
for sport, but at least it looks terrific on Blu-ray, thanks to a solid 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer
courtesy of 20th Century Fox. The movie is crisp, ultra colorful and, despite the CGI stars,
undeniably filmic, with a thin layer of pleasingly untouched grain covering each frame. Clarity is
strong, showing an appreciable amount of skin and clothing texture on the live-action actors, and
finely rendering the 'munks not-quite-cartoonish, not-quite-photorealistic fur and costumes. (The
Chipettes' sequined dresses look especially vivid.) Not to be outdone, the film's color scheme is
incredibly vibrant, with bright, supersaturated primaries—see Alvin and Simon's hoodies—and a
slightly warm cast, with highlights that are closer to cream than white. Contrast is nice and tight
and black levels are dark and stable, with no crush and plenty of revealing shadow delineation. The
encode is excellent as well, as I didn't spy any excess noise or compression-related issues. The only
thing that eagle-eyed viewers might spot is that the grain that's layered over the CGI to blend it in
with the rest of the picture doesn't always match perfectly. There are also a few moments when the
chipmunks stand out somewhat awkwardly from their surroundings, but I can't really dock the
transfer for that. Overall, a real winner here from Fox.

Ah, the dreaded pitch shift, raising voices several octaves and making mindless pop songs sound
even more grating and infectious than they already are. I've been absentmindedly humming the
theme song that plays over the disc's menu all day, and basically slapping myself on the forehead
every time I catch myself doing it. If you can get past the fact that super-high chipmunk voices are
always going to be somewhat obnoxious, The Squeakquel's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
surround track is pretty good, though the rear channels don't get nearly as much play as they
could've had. Seeing how the last act of the movie is loaded with action film theatrics—helicopter
rides and minibike chases—I expected the audio to really kick in and engage, but aside from a few
standout cross-channel movements, this track remains entrenched up front and center. Of course,
some of the music gets panned into the rears, along with some extremely quiet ambience during
the more dialogue driven scenes, but there's not much in the way of outright immersion. Still, the
track has dynamic heft a-plenty, and the various chipmunk-reworked pop tunes sound great in a
perverse, I don't want to admit it but I kind of have to way. Just be sure to barricade
yourself in your hopefully soundproofed den when the kids decide to blast this one at high volumes.

'Munk Music Machine (1080p, 10:57)
The so-called "'Munk Music Machine" allows you to play all of the musical sequences from the
film. Includes You Really Got Me, Stayin' Alive, Bring It On, Put Your Records On, It's Okay, Hot 'N
Cold, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), All Night Dance Crew, No One, We Are Family, and Shake
Your Groove Thing. For the truly masochistic, there's also a "Play Music Machine Non-Stop
(Continuous Repeat)" option.

Music in a Nutshell: Song Trivia
Turn on this feature to activate a pop-up trivia track that runs throughout the film, giving
information about the various songs featured on the soundtrack.

A-l-v-i-n-n-n-n!!! Album Maker (1080p)
This is a rather unintuitive application that allows kids to create their own virtual albums filled
with screenshots from select scenes from the film. There are really no instructions given, so
you're left to figure out for yourself what it is exactly that you're supposed to do. The best I can
gather, you first select scenes, then take screenshots within those scenes, place them in a layout
and add stickers and captions. There are three separate "difficulty levels," one for 1-5 year olds,
6-11 year olds, and 12 to adult. I started on 6-11 and still had trouble figuring out what I was
doing.

Munking History: 50 Years of Chipmunk Mischief, Mayhem and Music (1080p,
9:21)
The most enjoyable supplement—especially for those who grew up with the three high-pitched
rodents—is this brief retrospective of The Chipmunks' multi-generational history in music and
cartoons.

Meet the Chipettes (1080p, 8:37)
Producers Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman, who were responsible for the Chipmunks
reboot in the early '80s, discuss the creation and personalities of the three Chipettes. Anna Farris,
Christina Applegate, and Amy Poehler also pipe up to say a few words about their
characters.

Rockin' Rising Stars (1080p, 6:21)
A profile of Honor Society and Charice Pempengco, two of the musical acts briefly featured in the
film.

Music Mania (1080p, 9:04)
Here, we go on set for the filming of the climactic battle of the bands-style contest and see how
the live-action actors deal with having to perform without the CGI chipmunks in
frame.

The Chipmunks: Behind the Squeaking
"Investigative reporter" Natalie Saraf stages a VH1-style mock expose of the behind-the-scenes
lives of the three rock star chipmunks, complete with interviews with all the actors and
producers, who manage to keep straight faces throughout.

A-Nut-omy of a Scene (1080p, 2:39)
A visual explanation of how the CGI creations are incorporated with the live action
cinematography, from reference passes to animatics and final rendering.

Meet the Stuffies! (1080p, 3:09)
The "stuffies" are the stand-in puppets used by the filmmakers to block the scenes and visual
where the CGI chipmunks will be inserted. Here, the actors and producers talk about them as if
the stuffies were real people.

Shake Your Groove Thing with Rosero (1080p, 8:59)
Choreographer Rosero gives us a class on how to perform some of the dance moves we see the
chipmunks doing in the film.

Music Videos (1080p)
Five music videos comprised of footage from the film: Single Ladies (3:07), We Are Family (3:12),
Shake Your Groove Thing (4:35), You Really Got Me feat. Honor Society (2:02), The Song feat.
Queensberry (3:09). All but the last two are available with sing-a-long, karaoke-style lyrics at the
bottom of the screen.

Yes, kids will love The Squeakquel, if only because they're capable of enthusiastic love for
just about anything, especially if it's as cute as Theodore, clever as Simon, or rambunctious as Alvin.
Let 'em love it, I say, even if that means grinning and bearing it while over-caffeinated pop songs
blare from the living room. You'll get your revenge as a grandparent, buying obnoxious new releases
for their children. The film isn't the greatest, but this is an otherwise impressive package
from Fox, with a tight high definition image, a solid audio track, and a nearly inexhaustible array of
bonus features.

Blu-ray bundles with Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel (4 bundles)

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